Siege
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Graying Blood
Chapter 10: Siege
***
Gideon's forces waited outside of Mt. Moon, tanks blockading roads as the roar of engines and shifting of heavy shutters in the mountain a few kilometers away heralded the arrival of a column of countering armor arriving from the fortress, parking at a standoff range with the rival faction. Inside the headquarters, proximity alarms blared, lookouts only just spotting the hostile units ten minutes earlier. Across the surface of the mountain, cruise missile silos and batteries of lighter surface to air missiles automatically armed as soldiers inside adjusted their trajectories from one of the three redundant command centers to strike Bloodquill's troops if need be.
Squads of soldiers shuffled frantically to the armories, gearing up as their commanding officers barked orders. The few hangers in the base were busy fueling their handful of available gunships. It was a miracle they had received their new transfers of troops and equipment just a week earlier to ready the base for possible invasion from Sinnoh. Every unnecessary window to the outside sealed shut behind the hydraulic hiss of heavy steel shutters, layers of them covering every opening besides the missile silos.
The garden area inside suddenly became shaded in the bright morning as several squads were stationed at the opening, ready to intercept anything trying to use the window as an entrance.
Meanwhile, the commanding officer of the whole base was nowhere to be found, along with his second and daughter.
***
One thing the radar couldn't detect was two man-sized objects flying up the side of the mountain stronghold. A large skarmory male with heavy packs lugged on his metallic frame was in the lead, the flaps of his razor wings were unhindered.
The other was Mallory the noctowl. Just skirting the edge of a rocky outcrop before they slam down to land. Sprinting several meters, the approached a square pit down into the mountain. Below was a glass canopy, a heavy shutter behind it.
The skarmory knelt down next to it, pulling the packs from his sides and back. Zipping them open, the metal bird clicked several buttons, beeps responding as he nodded back to his comrade. "Get back," he ordered in a steely bell tone before chucking all the packages down the pit before turning on a heel and breaking into a jog with his subordinate followed by a leap and flight.
In another second, a near deafening crack and white flash, followed by a rush of wind. The two avian beings struggled to remain in flight as the air around was drawn to the point of detonation. When the burst arrived, a focused, intense lance of heat ripped through the shutters.
Inside, soldiers scrambled for better cover as chunks of glowing red, molten steel rained down, flattening trees and igniting grass. Plumes of thick smoked screened the armored bird as it plunged down from above.
Immediately, his frame was pitted and dented by shots as muzzle flashes flashed around him in the murky smoke. The bird's image began to blur as it leaped out of the haze, afterimages tracing him as he kicked off his agility powers.
Confused shouts from soldiers rang as they continued to fire from behind a makeshift barricade, shots failing to lead the target as the sturdy metallic frame of the bird crashed through them. With a flick of it's razor wings, his first victims were silenced with choking gurgles, throats cleanly cut.
Feeling more shots ping against his sturdy back plates, the Stymphalian bird turned around to engage the rest of the squad.
Above, the members of his team waited, hearing screams and the clash of steel, punctuated by bursts of light from special attacks. Then silence besides the blare of klaxons below.
"All clear," a metal shout sounds from below, his subordinate leaping in behind.
As Mallory the noctowl landed, she gave a glance around. Her eyes bulged as a wave of nausea shot through her body, the bird going weak as she saw the crimson-painted metallic frame of her commander and what he had just done.
The owl had hardly began to training at the academy. A far cry from the safe, sheltered life she was given before her father's death.
His killer was here. She was going to find him.
"Mallory, go find your own quarry," the metal bird ordered.
"Where are you going, sir?" the pidgeot asked.
"I have my own orders."
The camera eye also witnessed the whole ordeal.
***
Edward along with his second in command, Fractal and his now fully grown alakazam daughter stood in silence as the hum of the elevator filled their ears along with the blare of alarms from floors up above as they descended into the deepest point within the base.
More silent minutes passed before the elevator finally stopped and the double brushed steel doors opened with a hydraulic hiss. A cavern extended into blackness from the dim light in the elevator. Edward stepped out and motioned with a paw and several switches clicked, rows of temporary lamps lining either side of the tunnel.
"So, is this why we were really established here, sir?" the ampharos asked, craning his long neck about.
"Partially," the male alakazam answered. "In the obvious strategic sense, Mt. Moon is valuable as a location to garrison soldiers if Kanto is invaded from the north. The other...is someone, or rather, something entombed here. Long betrayed and forgotten."
Fractal paused in his step there. "You've been planning this for a long time, haven't you? Datan was in on it?"
"A filthy spy for Gideon. Rewarded as he deserved," the alakazam answered dismissively, before looking back as he noticed the electric type stop. "I'm seeing my life's research and labor coming to fruition. Will you not come with us?"
He chewed over it for a moment. "Topside needs a commander, sir."
Edward shrugged before turning his back again dismissively. "Fair enough; good luck." With that, the alakazam and his daughter walked off into the darkness.
***
The horrific metal bird scythed through more of the base's defenders, their shots merely pinging and scratching it's stained steel frame as it clogged it's feathers with coagulating blood and tufts of fur and flesh. The normally sterile walls behind his march were stained in a deep red that the dim red alert lights could not mask.
Down another hall, a female eevee sergeant and her team took position at the end of the passage, tilting her head around the corner every few moments, never dwelling long as her companions panted heavily, clutching rifles tight in paw.
Clang, clang. The steps of the beserker grew close. She primed a grenade and just as the silhouette of the monster flickered on floor in the crimson light. With a nervous twitch, the normal-type tossed the explosive down the hallway. A wave of relief shot through her as it deflected off the wall precisely and down the corner. Taking cover again, she clasped her ears tight. The sound of the blast still stung her ears, a radiant flash filling the passage to her side.
"Now!" she snapped, shifting around the corner again and breaking into a charge down the somewhat-smoky passage, the walls pitted from bits of fragment and the concussive burst. Behind her loyal squad mates followed.
The last sound they heard from their commander was a gurgling, crackling gasp as the blurry image of their target flicking a bladed wing across her throat, another coat of red splattering over it's now blast-blackened metal frame. She crumpled at his talons, the monster carelessly stepped up on her collapsed back, digging his sharp claws in past body armor and the plate beneath.
The awkward silence was broken again by a roar from one of the fallen eevee's squad mates, a charmeleon male. Stepping out from, he flicked his tail forward and a line of searing flames shot out and splashed over the iron bird.
He seemed to be hiding a wide grin behind that inexpressive beak as he endured the heat, the body he perched his talons on beginning to smolder and smoke from the heat transferring though his plates.
The fire-type gave a horrified gasp as the mad beast endured the flames. "An augment!" He signaled with a raise of a paw for his comrades to fall back, the rest breaking into a full retreat as he stared down his enemy.
***
Fractal arrived the security observation room, his heavy officer's greatcoat discarded for a set of black polymer ballistic plating with his own rifle slung over a shoulder. Rhombus and Slate were already there with Abigail, the three of them cringing in disgust as they watched a skarmory on a camera rip a charmelon soldier to ribbons.
"He's using augmented shock troops," Rhombus spat in disgust before turning her head to acknowledge Fractal. "Your people are paying deeply for our rebellion."
The ampharos nodded somberly as he paced over to observe rows of security screens. Many blank, trashed by the invader with the few survivors having their views spattered red in silent witness. "It's nothing I wouldn't ask of myself," the electric-type said distantly. "I think I know what he's after. Looks like I'm going right back there." His voice was cutting and distant; lacking any sarcasm or snark as he turned around without thought.
"I'll help," Abby said, following the electric type as he made his exit.
The long-necked anthro craned his head back, not pausing his march. "You're aware neither of us are likely to survive this fight."
"Conflict is my life in the end, major," the zangoose woman replied firmly. "It's a hard reality that has resurfaced lately."
"All right, then."
***
With squads scrambling to engage the priority target in their headquarters, Mallory the noctowl was largely left free to roam the halls of the base unharassed. She was on her hunt now. The absol, her father's former subordinate. The most likely suspect. His motives did not mater. They were most likely slimy ones like hunting for a promotion.
He would be brought to justice. According to records from executive Gideon's headquarters, he was incapacitated assaulting one of his soldiers. In the nidoking's new Team, vendetta missions like the one they perpetrated would be a thing of the past.
But, for the moment, revenge was a perfectly valid motivation. She arrived at the doors to the base's infirmary. Pushing open the double doors, she spotted a familiar nidoqueen at her desk, reading reading a magazine idly. She set the reading down and turned in her swivel chair to face the owl.
"Hello, soldier. Are you in need to aid?" She didn't so much as flinch as the bird raised the rifle, aimed at her.
"Take me to the absol," Mallory demanded.
"Why?"
The owl tightened her grip upon her weapon. "I will shoot you if you don't."
"Undoubtedly. Still, you don't look like someone who is naturally inclined for such activities." The nidoqueen slowly wheeled back with her chair to stand. "Did Alex do something to wrong you?"
The bird's feathers ruffled a little as she gave the doctor a hard stare. "You're protecting a filthy murderer. I could find him myself if you decided to interfere further." The warning was backed by the bird tilting her head to get the nido in her sights, a feathery finger just a twitch from inside the trigger guard.
"And you'd be a filthy murder in turn. Like I was saying, girl, you don't look like someone who is weighing this so easily. It's about the late Major Agent Datan, right? Older half brother, cousin, uncle?"
"Father."
"Ah. There's little difference in the end. I'm going to chance you shooting me now to say your efforts are...very misguided."
"What do you mean by that?"
Sophia glanced her eyes to the side. "The team is always bloody and brutal, rife with perversions and corruption. Agent Datan let his excesses be his own undoing. I have some medical records with photos I'd like you to see before you settle on murdering Agent Alexei."
The owl lowered her weapon a little as she weighed the offer. In a few seconds, she answered. "Fine then, show me."
***
The skarmory found himself facing a hall with a more simple access lift at the end of it, the walls bare and unfinished concrete. This must be where the base's commander is heading; the briefing he received explained he was digging for something. He was not allowed to let that happens.
His normally shiny metal frame was stained with blood and pitted with dark blast marks and dents from blasts and bullets. The fine steel feathers were shredded, leaving the beast unable to fly until next moulting. Not that he cared, the only focus now was his objective.
"Turn around," said a male voice from behind him.
Indeed did in a whirl, flicking his wings so the dented razor feathers would sail out in arcs to impale his enemy. Fractal reacted with a flick of his tail and wrist, small jolts of ball lightning lancing out, their magnetic forces dragging the keen, bloodied blades of their course to clatter against the walls.
"You've murdered many of my friends, bird," the electric type spat, Abby was standing to his right, her claws extended and glowing with that hidden fighting power of hers. "I'd offer a chance to surrender, but I know you don't plan to leave this place anyway."
If it was possible, a grin would have crossed the steel bird's beak at this moment. The second in command. If he could bag them both, all the better. So gabby, too. He needed to shut him up.
***
A kilometer into the base of the mountain, Edward and his daughter arrived at that massive rectangular stone door, unowian engravings on its surface contrasted in bright white moonstone. The room was still lit by all of the temporary lamps, the light dim as their steps stirred up dust from both the ages and recent excavation.
Edward would be positively beaming if the circumstances were better, but with Gideon on his doorstep he found himself more desperate than anything. His life's research and labor for this moment for it all to have to be rushed. No fanfare or praise. As is life.
He turned to his daughter. "Shall we knock and see if anyone is home?" he asked the newly evolved alakazam.
She gave him a nod.
Graying Blood
Chapter 10: Siege
***
Gideon's forces waited outside of Mt. Moon, tanks blockading roads as the roar of engines and shifting of heavy shutters in the mountain a few kilometers away heralded the arrival of a column of countering armor arriving from the fortress, parking at a standoff range with the rival faction. Inside the headquarters, proximity alarms blared, lookouts only just spotting the hostile units ten minutes earlier. Across the surface of the mountain, cruise missile silos and batteries of lighter surface to air missiles automatically armed as soldiers inside adjusted their trajectories from one of the three redundant command centers to strike Bloodquill's troops if need be.
Squads of soldiers shuffled frantically to the armories, gearing up as their commanding officers barked orders. The few hangers in the base were busy fueling their handful of available gunships. It was a miracle they had received their new transfers of troops and equipment just a week earlier to ready the base for possible invasion from Sinnoh. Every unnecessary window to the outside sealed shut behind the hydraulic hiss of heavy steel shutters, layers of them covering every opening besides the missile silos.
The garden area inside suddenly became shaded in the bright morning as several squads were stationed at the opening, ready to intercept anything trying to use the window as an entrance.
Meanwhile, the commanding officer of the whole base was nowhere to be found, along with his second and daughter.
***
One thing the radar couldn't detect was two man-sized objects flying up the side of the mountain stronghold. A large skarmory male with heavy packs lugged on his metallic frame was in the lead, the flaps of his razor wings were unhindered.
The other was Mallory the noctowl. Just skirting the edge of a rocky outcrop before they slam down to land. Sprinting several meters, the approached a square pit down into the mountain. Below was a glass canopy, a heavy shutter behind it.
The skarmory knelt down next to it, pulling the packs from his sides and back. Zipping them open, the metal bird clicked several buttons, beeps responding as he nodded back to his comrade. "Get back," he ordered in a steely bell tone before chucking all the packages down the pit before turning on a heel and breaking into a jog with his subordinate followed by a leap and flight.
In another second, a near deafening crack and white flash, followed by a rush of wind. The two avian beings struggled to remain in flight as the air around was drawn to the point of detonation. When the burst arrived, a focused, intense lance of heat ripped through the shutters.
Inside, soldiers scrambled for better cover as chunks of glowing red, molten steel rained down, flattening trees and igniting grass. Plumes of thick smoked screened the armored bird as it plunged down from above.
Immediately, his frame was pitted and dented by shots as muzzle flashes flashed around him in the murky smoke. The bird's image began to blur as it leaped out of the haze, afterimages tracing him as he kicked off his agility powers.
Confused shouts from soldiers rang as they continued to fire from behind a makeshift barricade, shots failing to lead the target as the sturdy metallic frame of the bird crashed through them. With a flick of it's razor wings, his first victims were silenced with choking gurgles, throats cleanly cut.
Feeling more shots ping against his sturdy back plates, the Stymphalian bird turned around to engage the rest of the squad.
Above, the members of his team waited, hearing screams and the clash of steel, punctuated by bursts of light from special attacks. Then silence besides the blare of klaxons below.
"All clear," a metal shout sounds from below, his subordinate leaping in behind.
As Mallory the noctowl landed, she gave a glance around. Her eyes bulged as a wave of nausea shot through her body, the bird going weak as she saw the crimson-painted metallic frame of her commander and what he had just done.
The owl had hardly began to training at the academy. A far cry from the safe, sheltered life she was given before her father's death.
His killer was here. She was going to find him.
"Mallory, go find your own quarry," the metal bird ordered.
"Where are you going, sir?" the pidgeot asked.
"I have my own orders."
The camera eye also witnessed the whole ordeal.
***
Edward along with his second in command, Fractal and his now fully grown alakazam daughter stood in silence as the hum of the elevator filled their ears along with the blare of alarms from floors up above as they descended into the deepest point within the base.
More silent minutes passed before the elevator finally stopped and the double brushed steel doors opened with a hydraulic hiss. A cavern extended into blackness from the dim light in the elevator. Edward stepped out and motioned with a paw and several switches clicked, rows of temporary lamps lining either side of the tunnel.
"So, is this why we were really established here, sir?" the ampharos asked, craning his long neck about.
"Partially," the male alakazam answered. "In the obvious strategic sense, Mt. Moon is valuable as a location to garrison soldiers if Kanto is invaded from the north. The other...is someone, or rather, something entombed here. Long betrayed and forgotten."
Fractal paused in his step there. "You've been planning this for a long time, haven't you? Datan was in on it?"
"A filthy spy for Gideon. Rewarded as he deserved," the alakazam answered dismissively, before looking back as he noticed the electric type stop. "I'm seeing my life's research and labor coming to fruition. Will you not come with us?"
He chewed over it for a moment. "Topside needs a commander, sir."
Edward shrugged before turning his back again dismissively. "Fair enough; good luck." With that, the alakazam and his daughter walked off into the darkness.
***
The horrific metal bird scythed through more of the base's defenders, their shots merely pinging and scratching it's stained steel frame as it clogged it's feathers with coagulating blood and tufts of fur and flesh. The normally sterile walls behind his march were stained in a deep red that the dim red alert lights could not mask.
Down another hall, a female eevee sergeant and her team took position at the end of the passage, tilting her head around the corner every few moments, never dwelling long as her companions panted heavily, clutching rifles tight in paw.
Clang, clang. The steps of the beserker grew close. She primed a grenade and just as the silhouette of the monster flickered on floor in the crimson light. With a nervous twitch, the normal-type tossed the explosive down the hallway. A wave of relief shot through her as it deflected off the wall precisely and down the corner. Taking cover again, she clasped her ears tight. The sound of the blast still stung her ears, a radiant flash filling the passage to her side.
"Now!" she snapped, shifting around the corner again and breaking into a charge down the somewhat-smoky passage, the walls pitted from bits of fragment and the concussive burst. Behind her loyal squad mates followed.
The last sound they heard from their commander was a gurgling, crackling gasp as the blurry image of their target flicking a bladed wing across her throat, another coat of red splattering over it's now blast-blackened metal frame. She crumpled at his talons, the monster carelessly stepped up on her collapsed back, digging his sharp claws in past body armor and the plate beneath.
The awkward silence was broken again by a roar from one of the fallen eevee's squad mates, a charmeleon male. Stepping out from, he flicked his tail forward and a line of searing flames shot out and splashed over the iron bird.
He seemed to be hiding a wide grin behind that inexpressive beak as he endured the heat, the body he perched his talons on beginning to smolder and smoke from the heat transferring though his plates.
The fire-type gave a horrified gasp as the mad beast endured the flames. "An augment!" He signaled with a raise of a paw for his comrades to fall back, the rest breaking into a full retreat as he stared down his enemy.
***
Fractal arrived the security observation room, his heavy officer's greatcoat discarded for a set of black polymer ballistic plating with his own rifle slung over a shoulder. Rhombus and Slate were already there with Abigail, the three of them cringing in disgust as they watched a skarmory on a camera rip a charmelon soldier to ribbons.
"He's using augmented shock troops," Rhombus spat in disgust before turning her head to acknowledge Fractal. "Your people are paying deeply for our rebellion."
The ampharos nodded somberly as he paced over to observe rows of security screens. Many blank, trashed by the invader with the few survivors having their views spattered red in silent witness. "It's nothing I wouldn't ask of myself," the electric-type said distantly. "I think I know what he's after. Looks like I'm going right back there." His voice was cutting and distant; lacking any sarcasm or snark as he turned around without thought.
"I'll help," Abby said, following the electric type as he made his exit.
The long-necked anthro craned his head back, not pausing his march. "You're aware neither of us are likely to survive this fight."
"Conflict is my life in the end, major," the zangoose woman replied firmly. "It's a hard reality that has resurfaced lately."
"All right, then."
***
With squads scrambling to engage the priority target in their headquarters, Mallory the noctowl was largely left free to roam the halls of the base unharassed. She was on her hunt now. The absol, her father's former subordinate. The most likely suspect. His motives did not mater. They were most likely slimy ones like hunting for a promotion.
He would be brought to justice. According to records from executive Gideon's headquarters, he was incapacitated assaulting one of his soldiers. In the nidoking's new Team, vendetta missions like the one they perpetrated would be a thing of the past.
But, for the moment, revenge was a perfectly valid motivation. She arrived at the doors to the base's infirmary. Pushing open the double doors, she spotted a familiar nidoqueen at her desk, reading reading a magazine idly. She set the reading down and turned in her swivel chair to face the owl.
"Hello, soldier. Are you in need to aid?" She didn't so much as flinch as the bird raised the rifle, aimed at her.
"Take me to the absol," Mallory demanded.
"Why?"
The owl tightened her grip upon her weapon. "I will shoot you if you don't."
"Undoubtedly. Still, you don't look like someone who is naturally inclined for such activities." The nidoqueen slowly wheeled back with her chair to stand. "Did Alex do something to wrong you?"
The bird's feathers ruffled a little as she gave the doctor a hard stare. "You're protecting a filthy murderer. I could find him myself if you decided to interfere further." The warning was backed by the bird tilting her head to get the nido in her sights, a feathery finger just a twitch from inside the trigger guard.
"And you'd be a filthy murder in turn. Like I was saying, girl, you don't look like someone who is weighing this so easily. It's about the late Major Agent Datan, right? Older half brother, cousin, uncle?"
"Father."
"Ah. There's little difference in the end. I'm going to chance you shooting me now to say your efforts are...very misguided."
"What do you mean by that?"
Sophia glanced her eyes to the side. "The team is always bloody and brutal, rife with perversions and corruption. Agent Datan let his excesses be his own undoing. I have some medical records with photos I'd like you to see before you settle on murdering Agent Alexei."
The owl lowered her weapon a little as she weighed the offer. In a few seconds, she answered. "Fine then, show me."
***
The skarmory found himself facing a hall with a more simple access lift at the end of it, the walls bare and unfinished concrete. This must be where the base's commander is heading; the briefing he received explained he was digging for something. He was not allowed to let that happens.
His normally shiny metal frame was stained with blood and pitted with dark blast marks and dents from blasts and bullets. The fine steel feathers were shredded, leaving the beast unable to fly until next moulting. Not that he cared, the only focus now was his objective.
"Turn around," said a male voice from behind him.
Indeed did in a whirl, flicking his wings so the dented razor feathers would sail out in arcs to impale his enemy. Fractal reacted with a flick of his tail and wrist, small jolts of ball lightning lancing out, their magnetic forces dragging the keen, bloodied blades of their course to clatter against the walls.
"You've murdered many of my friends, bird," the electric type spat, Abby was standing to his right, her claws extended and glowing with that hidden fighting power of hers. "I'd offer a chance to surrender, but I know you don't plan to leave this place anyway."
If it was possible, a grin would have crossed the steel bird's beak at this moment. The second in command. If he could bag them both, all the better. So gabby, too. He needed to shut him up.
***
A kilometer into the base of the mountain, Edward and his daughter arrived at that massive rectangular stone door, unowian engravings on its surface contrasted in bright white moonstone. The room was still lit by all of the temporary lamps, the light dim as their steps stirred up dust from both the ages and recent excavation.
Edward would be positively beaming if the circumstances were better, but with Gideon on his doorstep he found himself more desperate than anything. His life's research and labor for this moment for it all to have to be rushed. No fanfare or praise. As is life.
He turned to his daughter. "Shall we knock and see if anyone is home?" he asked the newly evolved alakazam.
She gave him a nod.